Mr kelly has a big pot of chili. he splits it into 9 bowls that each hold 1 1/8 cups. after filling those bowls, there is 1/2 cup left. how many cups did he start with?

10 5/8 cups

pot amount = 9 × (bowl amount) + (leftover amount)

... = 9 × (1 1/8) + 1/2

... = 9 × (1 + 1/8) + 4/8 . . . . . show 1 1/8 as a sum, rewrite 1/2 to 4/8

... = 9 + 9/8 + 4/8 . . . . . . . . eliminate parentheses using the distributive property

... = 9 + 13/8 . . . . . . . . . . . . add the fractions

... = 9 + 1 5/8 . . . . . . . . . . . convert from improper fraction to mixed number

... = 10 5/8 . . . . . cups . . . add the integer parts